Talk:Pteropus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Pteropus is within the scope of WikiProject Australia, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Australia and Australia-related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project page. | ||
| Start | This article has been rated as start-class on the quality scale. | ||
| Low | This article has been rated as low-importance on the importance scale. | ||
 |
This article is supported by WikiProject Australian biota. | ||
|
Assessment comments
|
|||
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Mammals, a project to improve Wikipedia's articles on Mammal-related subjects. Please participate by editing the article, and help us assess and improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details. | ||
| Start | This article has been rated as start-class on the quality scale. | ||
| ??? | This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale. | ||
|
Assessment comments
|
|||
I'm new. How am I doing? I have to fly but I'll be back later. I'm batty about bats but no expert.
[edit] general info on order and suborder
The first paragraph of this article has a lot of info on megabats in general. I'm moving it here, and also copying to Talk:Megabat.
Easily discernible from their smaller relatives, the Microchiroptera, they are clearly recognizable by their long muzzle and are often described as having a dog-like face. Most megachiroptera species are harmless, feeding on fruit and pollen. Despite their dog or mouse like facial appearance they are more closely related to humans than rodents or canines. Their wings in particular have many similarities to the human hand. In fact the word bat comes from the Greek term for 'hand wing'. By contrast the smaller Chiroptera sub-order typically has a flatter face.
--Allen 03:48, 28 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Not a bat but a primate?
There seem to be quite some evidence to suggest that this creature is not at all related to bats, eventhough it looks exactly like a bat, but is actually a primate and shares a common ancestor with lemurs.
It is true that all bats and all primates share a common ancestor that no other type of mammal shares with them. So bats and primates are already very close. Seems that the flying fox may be a mammal that made the jump to the 'bat niche' way later than the 'real bats' and thus making it a primate from cladistic taxonomical point of view.
I think this should definitely be part of the article. --80.56.36.253 14:39, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
